Packet of Fungi Inside New Diapers Breaks Them Down in Landfill Turning it to Mycelium

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May 14, 2025

A baby wearing a HIRO MycoDigestable diaper - credit, HIRO Technologies

A baby wearing a HIRO MycoDigestible diaper – credit, HIRO Technologies

Recent discoveries in microbial digestion of plastic have finally left the lab and entered the real world in the form of HIRO diapers, the world’s first diaper manufactured to be eaten by fungi.

Every year, over 18 billion diapers are discarded into US landfills—and if they aren’t manufactured with natural cellulose, then they’re going to be there for 500 years, leaking microplastics and chemicals into the soil.

With that unfortunate truth out of the way, dig this dirty great news: a pair of serial entrepreneurs have developed diapers designed to be broken down into soil by fungi, and they’re practically flying off the shelves.

Each HIRO MycoDigestible Diaper comes with a small packet of shelf-stable, plastic-eating fungi. Parents simply throw the packet away with the used diaper—no extra steps required.

Once the diaper reaches a landfill, the fungi activate in the presence of moisture and begin to break down the diaper’s materials from the inside out. These fungi secrete enzymes that target and sever the carbon bonds in plastic, transforming the waste into mycelium and nutrient-rich soil over time.

“The response has been nothing short of electric. People are hungry for real solutions, and this one hits home—both literally and globally,” said Tero Isokauppila, co-founder of HIRO Technologies and pioneer in the now-$2.7 billion global mushroom coffee industry.

“If we can break down a diaper, we can break down anything. Once we’ve gained enough market share, we can partner with other brands and bring this technology to the world.”

Unlike traditional end-of-life methods that require high energy inputs or create harmful emissions, HIRO’s fungi-powered solution is scalable, sustainable, and truly circular.

While plastic-eating fungi were first discovered by scientists over a decade ago, their potential has remained locked in labs—until now. HIRO has pioneered a commercial, shelf-stable fungi technology that targets plastic at a molecular level, breaking it down into soil and mycelium, the root system of fungi.

BREAKING DOWN BABY WASTE: These Baby Shoes Dissolve In Water After Your Infant Outgrows Them, Saving Space in Landfills
“It’s literally in mushrooms’ DNA to break down complex carbon materials,” explains Isokauppila, saying that when they first evolved on Earth, they broke down rocks long before ever bothering a tree. “They already break down lignin which has a similar carbon backbone to plastics. We’ve simply re-trained them to do what they already kind of knew how to do.”

At the moment the diapers are available on a subscription basis that includes a week’s supply, plus wet wipes and the fungal spore packets for $35 per week.

WATCH an explainer video…

SHARE These Biodegradable Diapers The Any Eco-Conscious Parents In Your Life…

The Sole Prototype of the First Chinese Typewriter Was Discovered in a New York Basement

By

Andy Corbley

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May 14, 2025

A close up of the Ming Kwai typewriter - credit Elisabeth Van Boch, supplied to GNN

A Stanford scholar has been rewarded for his work documenting Chinese computing by winning his university the chance to purchase the only known prototype of the first-ever Chinese typewriter after it was found in a basement.

Receiving offers through Facebook and Reddit from museums and institutions around the world, New Yorker Jennifer Felix and her husband quickly became overwhelmed and astonished by the response to their basement discovery.

“Is it even worth anything? It weighs a ton!” Felix’s husband wrote along with pictures of the “Ming Kwai” typewriter.

As it happened, one of the commenters pointed the couple to a book by Standford history professor Thomas Mullaney called The Chinese Typewriter: A History. Inside, a whole chapter was dedicated to the 明快打字機 which Standford University Press write is typically just called by the first two characters which mean “bright” and “fast”—Ming Kwai.

The Ming Kwai was the first Chinese typewriter ever to include a keyboard. It was invented by Chinese-born author, translator, and cultural commentator Lin Yutang in the 1940s.

The whole notion that a language with around 80,000 written characters could somehow be adapted for use in a typewriter seems bonkers. Today, writing digital text with a keyboard or phone in Chinese works by typing Western letters corresponding to the sound of the character, for example “ming” and then selecting which ming, since there are several, is needed for the text.

A digital database wasn’t available in the 1940s, so incredibly, Lin created a mechanical hard drive.

“The depression of keys did not result in the inscription of corresponding symbols, according to the classic what-you-type-is-what-you-get convention, but instead served as steps in the process of finding one’s desired Chinese characters from within the machine’s mechanical hard drive, and then inscribing them on the page,” Mullaney wrote in his book.

The Ming Kwai’s keys contain a mixture of characters and components found in many different Chinese words.

For example, in the center of the bottom row, the left-most keys between the two red ones are “er” and “xin,” both of which are characters themselves, but also can be component to larger, more complex characters. Xin, for example, means “heart” but when placed below “ni” forms the character “nin” which is a formal way to address someone.

The post-war Chinese typist would depress a key in the top row, triggering a rotation in the central mechanical database that would bring a certain number of common characters into view in a part of the typewriter called the “eye”. depressing a key in the middle row would trigger a second rotation corresponding to the first, and bring up another set of characters containing both component parts, and so one to the bottom row.

History professor Thomas Mullaney and Zhaohui Xue, curator of Chinese studies examine the Ming Kwai typewriter – credit Elisabeth Van Boch, supplied to GNN

Within the “eye” lay a final selection of characters containing the components selected for on each row, and by pressing one of the numbered keys, the character would be printed onto the page. Ingenious, to say the absolute minimum.

“In 1947, the Carl E. Krum Company built what is believed to be the sole prototype of Lin’s invention,” Stanford press wrote. “A year later, in debt and unable to generate interest in mass producing his machine, Lin sold the prototype and the commercial rights to the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, where Felix’s grandfather worked as a machinist.”

OTHER EARLY TECHNOLOGICAL RELICS: You Can Buy the Recording Console the Beatles Used to Make Their Iconic Album ‘Abbey Road’

With the help of a foundation established by two Americans of East Asian heritage, Stanford University was able to acquire the Ming Kwai and pay for its maintenance, but Mrs. Felix felt that Stanford were the most suitable custodians of the machine, since it was Mullaney’s book that helped clue her in on what it was she and her husband found in their basement.

“I didn’t want this unique, one-of-a-kind piece of history to disappear again,” she said.

SHARE This Brilliant Invention That Heralded The Dawn Of Chinese Computing…

1,800-year-old Roman Water Pipe Made from Hollow Tree Trunks Found Under a Street in Belgium

By

Andy Corbley

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May 14, 2025

A closeup of one of the tree trunk pipe sections - credit Stad Leuven, retrieved from Facebook

Under the streets of a Belgian city center, an Imperial Roman drainage pipe section made from several hollowed-out tree trunks was recently discovered during excavation work.

That the settlement had some form of underground plumbing system suggests that modern-day Leuven was an integrated and prosperous part of the empire, despite being located over 700 miles from the Eternal City.

When thinking of the Roman Empire, one typically imagines marble, brick, and concrete—the materials which have allowed so many of its monuments to survive until our day.

The pipe is just another method that Roman plumbers must have used to handle hydro-logistics in their settlements, along with towering above-ground and subterranean aqueducts, underfloor piping, and gravity-fed cisterns for water storage.

Leuven city councilmember Dirk Vansina reminded local news reporting on the discovery that the city sits in what is basically a swamp. The muddy earth below preserved the several 5-foot-long hollowed-out tree trunks extremely well, allowing them to survive to this day.

Buried 13-feet down, the pipe section is estimated to have run for about 100 feet.

“The fact that the wood of the water pipe has been exceptionally well preserved makes it a unique finding that contributes to the knowledge of Roman presence in Leuven,” a statement from the city read on Facebook. “The entire water pipe will then be freeze-dried so that it can be optimally preserved and possibly displayed later.”

ROMAN ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologists Unearth ‘Exceptionally Rare’ Roman Helmet at the Site of ‘Weapon Sacrifice’

The wooden plumbing suggests that Leuven may have been a Roman “diverticulum,” or a settlement along a military road that connected two separate administrative territories. Modern-day Belgium came into Rome’s hands by way of conquests carried out by Julius Caesar—a regional holocaust in many respects—that brought an area called “Gaul” under the command of Rome.

Gaul was made up of modern-day France and parts of the countries which surround it including Belgium.

AT THE BORDERS OF THE EMPIRE: Spy Satellite Photos Reveal Hundreds of Long-Lost Roman Forts, Challenging Decades-Old Theory

“The fact that we found a water pipe indicates that the settlement must have enjoyed a certain degree of prosperity,” Ben Van Genechten, a project leader at the archaeology company BAAC Flanders, tells the Brussels Times.

Though currently set for dendrochronology work to determine its precise age, the archaeologists suggested the plumbing system would probably be between 1,800 and 1,700 years old.

SHARE This Example Of Roman-Era Frontier Plumbing With Your Friends…

Boy Draws 99 Animals for David Attenborough’s 99th Birthday

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Andy Corbley

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May 14, 2025

Max drew 99 animals to mark David Attenborough birthday by Samantha Evans-Browning family photo — Max drew 99 animals to mark David Attenborough birthday – By Samantha Evans-Browning

Max with his 99 animal drawings to mark Sir David Attenborough’s birthday Credit: Samantha Evans-Browning

A little Welsh boy has drawn 99 animals to celebrate Sir David Attenborough’s 99th Birthday which just passed this week.

Spanning across eight A3 sheets of paper, the giant birthday card took Max Evans-Browning 4 days and a lot of research to find each and every animal Attenborough has ever expressed a fondness for.

Max’s mom Samantha shared a picture of her son and his artwork on Facebook, asking for anyone willing to listen to share it in the hopes that it arrives on the desktop of the famous British conservationist.

Born 99 years the Tuesday before last, Sir David Attenborough became the most famous advocate and voice for nature and conservation the Western world has ever known.

Offering the British media an interview in the days leading up to his quasi-centennial, Sir David acknowledged that he felt there wasn’t much time left for him on the Earth, and that he saved his greatest work for last.

Ocean is a documentary covering the salty, watery world all around us. In the interview Attenborough said that his 60-year career as a conservationist has convinced him that the world’s oceans should be the highest conservation priority for humanity, and that if we “save the oceans, we save the planet.”

A regular animal lover, five-year-old Max “watches animals, reads animals… and knows the most rare animals” said his mom, who added that his bedroom walls in their Pembrokeshire home are covered in animals.

“He will say ‘I know that, it’s a pangolin’ and I’m like, ‘what, I don’t even know what that is.'”

THE CREATIVITY OF CHILDREN:

“Thank you in advance and Mr. Attenborough, if you ever see this… Happy Birthday from Max Evans-Browning, age 5 from Pembrokeshire,” his birthday card read.

Already receiving hundreds of shares, GNN will wait and see if the young man’s virtual well-wishes arrive at their destination.

SHARE THIS STORY And Max’s Post In Hopes Sir David Will See It…

“A soul is like electricity. We don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room.” – Ray Charles

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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May 14, 2025

Quote of the Day: “A soul is like electricity. We don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room.” – Ray Charles

Photo by: cdd20

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, May 14

This Day In History

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Good News Network

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May 14, 2025

George Lucas-2009-film fest-cc-Nicolas genin — George Lucas ain 2009 - credit Nicolas Genin CC 3.0.

Happy Birthday to director-screenwriter George Lucas who turns 80. Receiving 5 Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) for his 1973 debut film American Graffiti proved that he could write and direct, and producing the groundbreaking science fiction franchise Star Wars proved he could create a cultural phenomenon worth billions of dollars. He also dreamed up Indiana Jones, played by Harrison Ford in the blockbuster 1980’s trilogy that opened with Raiders of the Lost Ark. READ about his surprising background… (1944)

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Priceless Preventative Healthcare Is Now Free in Poland Thanks to New Program

By

Andy Corbley

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May 13, 2025

young-patient-doctor-check-up - Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash + — credit - Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash +

credit – Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash +

There’s an old saying, often ignored in modern Western medicine, that an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure.

Establishing a new broad-spectrum, 20-year testing program for its younger generation, Poland has passed this Franklinian test of medical wisdom whose value has been recognized since the days of ancient China.

The new initiative, called Moje Zdrowie (My Health), includes a basic testing package of blood work, glucose levels, creatinine, lipid profile, thyroid hormones, and urinalysis every five years from age 20 to 40 in order to ensure that any disease, or the precursor state that may develop into a disease, is identified as soon as possibile.

Available for free at all healthcare centers in the country, it will be carried out with a questionnaire on medical and family history, lifestyle factors, and mental health.

“For decades, we have been accustomed to periodic preventive examinations of children and adolescents,” said health minister Izabela Leszczyna, announcing the new program. “Very often, however, adults forget to take the same care of themselves.”

“That is why we are introducing regular health checkups for adults—to help build the habit of routine screenings and encourage people to take better care of their own health,” she added.

Chronic diseases like obesity, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypothyroidism, etc. will place a burden worth several hundred thousand dollars per person on any national health system. At the same time, following 50 years of cancer research and innovation in testing and treatment, we know that virtually all cancers will have substantially lower mortality rates when identified in their earliest stages.

NEWS FROM POLAND: Polish Olympian Auctions Silver Medal for Infant’s Heart Surgery, but Winning Bidder Won’t Accept It

A simple test battery combined with risk factor questionnaire can help identify those in a population who are likely to develop these diseases, saving the society millions in lives and dollars.

Notes from Poland writes that the new initiative has been welcomed by medical professionals, who say it addresses key shortcomings in the previous program which failed to help patients follow-up on test results and recommendations.

SIMILAR GREAT HEALTH SERVICE PROGRAMS:

In the case of Poland, the country is experiencing a shortage of nurses and other attendant staff, at a rate of 6.3 per 100,000 inhabitants—almost 3 less than the OECD average. Notes from Poland adds that even if the number of doctors meets the standard, within the next 15 years that number will fall as many enter retirement.

This also coincides with the highest rate of engagement with the medical system the country has ever recorded, at a time when it spends about 4% less than the EU-wide average on medical infrastructure.

SHARE This Great Initiative From Poland On Social Media…

Palm Trees on Lord Howe Island Took an Evolutionary Path Darwin Never Expected

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Andy Corbley

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May 13, 2025

The Kentia palm Howea forsteriana Patti Anderson, Identifying Commonly Cultivated Palms, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org

One of Australia’s most biodiverse offshore islands enjoys the company to two palm trees that despite appearing quite similar are actually different species.

That this happened: that two species evolved from a common ancestor despite no geographical separation, means biologists have confirmed that “sympatric” evolution is possible on Earth.

To explain exactly what that means, here’s Dr. Vincent Savolainen from Imperial College London’s Department of Life Sciences.

“Imagine a few humans on an island for 100 million years, no-one would think they would evolve into a different species, but actually plants do,” he told ABC News Australia about the palm trees on Lord Howe Island, 600 miles off the northern coast of New South Wales.

“Although they are not geographically isolated, they become reproductively isolated because of the flowering time difference which is due to some interaction they have in the soil with microbes.”

This is in direct opposition to the conditions that led Charles Darwin to develop the concept of natural selection. When he was exploring the Galapagos, his breakthrough that species evolve through exposure to different environments came after collecting various specimens of finches on the archipelago’s islands.

The finches were slightly different in relation to the challenges and opportunities available on each island. In contrast, Howea belmoreana and its cousin, Howea forsteriana, evolved divergently, side by side, isolated for over 1 million years on Lord Howe Island; something Darwin thought as being an “unlikely” scenario for evolution to occur.

Having never seen a human footfall until about 1700, when whalers began using it as a storehouse, the island eventually saw use as a nursery for these palm trees, with H. forsteriana becoming particularly well-liked by Queen Victoria.

Called Kentia Palms, Professor Savolainen is part of a study team examining how it is that these palms found enough evolutionary elbow room on the small island to speciate into unique trees.

The study’s conclusion and working hypothesis is that a common ancestor arrived from Australia about 1 million years ago and gradually spread across the island. Over time, the palms developed different flowering periods based on whether they grew on sand or basalt.

The key is that each of these substrates house different mycorrhizal fungi, and that the interactions with these soil microbes caused the speciation.

OTHER AUSTRALIAN MARVELS: ‘Huge Environmental Win’: Australia to Protect 52% of its Oceans, More Than Any Other Country

“What we are discovering is the plants and the fungi can make a specific partnership that allows them to survive stressful conditions,” Professor Savolainen said. Rather than challenging Darwin’s work, the discovery has demonstrated that environmental conditions can drive speciation even in the absence of geographical separation.

In other words, it’s in update to Darwin’s theory.

Lord Howe Island is in some respects akin to the Galapagos or Madagascar: unique islands where evolution drives remarkable diversity of life. Recently cured of a terrible infestation of rats and mice, this UNESCO Natural Heritage Site is cloaked in endemic foliage found nowhere else on Earth.

“What is unfolding is an ecological renaissance, since the rodents have gone, the catchphrase is: ‘I’ve never seen that before’,” Hank Bower from the Lord Howe Island board told the Sydney Morning Herald, in 2022.

Back in the 1950s, the island government made the decision to cap visitors at any given time to 400 people, a decision that has been retained now that the island’s reputation for unspoiled wilderness has been restored.

WATCH the story below from ABC News…

SHARE This New Chapter In Understanding Evolution With Your Friends…

Dad Turns 1970s Private Jet into Airbnb Rental Complete with Original Cockpit–Take a PEEK Inside

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Andy Corbley

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May 13, 2025

A man has turned a 1970s private jet into a tiny home and listed it on Airbnb.

Aviation enthusiasts are sure to love the original cockpit maintained as it was from the days it flew oil executives to and from countries and meetings.

The unique home is complete with two bedrooms, sleeps two adults and two children, and has a fully functioning kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, and outdoor seating area.

The passion project belongs to Airbnb host and antique car renovator Tamir Ali, who acquired ‘half’ of a 1970s Hawker jet in December 2023, from an acquittance who deals in oddities.

After being decommissioned in the 80s, it was cut in half and had the wings removed for ease of transport.

Ali spent seven months and nearly $120,000 transforming the jet into a rental property in Gwynedd, Wales.

“It’s awesome—when people walk in they say it’s much bigger than it seems on the outside,” said Ali. “It’s a unique experience, not many people get to sit in the cockpit of 70’s private jet.”

The interior of the fuselage – credit Tamir Ali via SWNS

The interior of the attached cabin – credit Tamir Ali via SWNS

The restoration and renovation process included replacing the carpets with wooden floors, rewiring the electrics, and getting a custom-made door fitted. Ali then secured a location for the plane in Dolgellau and fitted a 16ft by 9ft cabin onto it to make enough space for a double bed, kitchen, and bathroom.

You can view the property here.

WILD AND WONDERFUL ACCOMMODATIONS: World’s Only ‘Bookstore Airbnb’ Has 2-Year Wait List for Guests Wanting to Sell Used Books By Day

Reflecting on the project, Ali said that in his work restoring cars he’s always brushed up with “eccentric people—people who deal with the weird and wonderful.”

“I know a chap in Essex, who said he had something that was up my street. It was looking a bit worse for wear, the nose cone was hanging off and there was no door,” said Ali, according to SWNS. “There was lots of mold and moss inside, but I immediately envisioned what I wanted it to be.”

ANOTHER PLANE AIRBNB IN ALASKA: Plan a Trip to Alaska and Stay in These Classic Airplanes Converted into Luxury Accommodations (LOOK)

Available for £170 per night, “it’s a very, very cool experience.” The pet friendly property has only been on Airbnb for three weeks, but is already at 70% occupancy.

“The feedback so far has been good, people seem to love it.”

SHARE This Unique Kind Of Accommodation With Your Friends En Route to Wales…

Boy Had to Go Barefoot for 13 Years After Childhood Injury–But Can Now Wear Shoes Thanks to Free Surgery

By

Andy Corbley

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May 13, 2025

Mercy Ships physician Theo with Tera during rehab - credit Mercy ships via SWNS — Mercy Ships physician Theo with Tera prior to treatment - credit Mercy Ships © via SWNS

Mercy Ships physician Theo with Tera prior to treatment – credit Mercy Ships © via SWNS

A boy who couldn’t wear shoes until the age of 13 due to a childhood injury that left his feet deformed has had a life-changing surgery.

Courtesy of the floating medical charity that is Mercy Ships, 14-year-old Tera can now wear sneakers for the first time in his life and play football with his friends.

Tera’s foot after life-changing surgery aboard Mercy Ships’ floating hospital – credit Mercy Ships © via SWNS.

From a fishing village near Manakara, Madagascar, Tera’s family was unable to pay for any significant treatment after he accidentally tipped over a pot of boiling water onto his left leg when he was 1.

He suffered third degree burns that fused his leg to his ankle. Even though he recovered without medical intervention, the way his ankle healed limited his movement.

With no means to pay for hospital care, his family had previously sought out three traditional healers, each offering their own remedies, but nothing seemed to work. His mother then learned that the international hospital charity Mercy Ships had docked Africa Mercy in Madagascar.

GNN has reported on several releases from Mercy Ships: of tennis-ball sized tumors being removed, bowlegs being adjusted, and more serious conditions treated all through pro bono surgery.

One young woman even became a nurse having previously been treated on Mercy Ships and left eager to pursue a career in medicine.

When volunteers from Mercy Ships spoke to Tera’s mother about free surgery on board, she wrapped Tera’s baby brother on her back and embarked on a two-day journey with her children to the ship.

Tera received an appointment on African Mercy and underwent surgery to release the burn contracture on June 27th, 2024. He can now wear shoes for the first time since he was an infant.

“He should have a normal functioning ankle now, which means he will be able wear a normal shoe and play like any other child,” said Dr. Venter, the physician who performed the surgery.

“Before, I was barefoot in the streets even though it was so hot,” Tera told Mercy Ships’ press team, according to SWNS. “I am happy because my friends do not make fun of me anymore. We all play together now.”

OTHER MERCY SHIP STORIES: Toddler Unable to Bend Arms Due to Burns Hugs Parents For First Time After Free Life-Changing Surgery

Due to his injury, Tera could not play his favorite position as a goalkeeper, but since the surgery, not only has Tera been making up for lost games on the pitch, he’s also been able to go fishing with his dad.

SHARE This Boy’s Stroke Brush With Mercy With Your Friends…

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now, love mercy now.” – Rami Shapiro

Quote of the Day

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Good News Network

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May 13, 2025

Quote of the Day: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now, love mercy now.” – Rami Shapiro

Photo by: Paola Chaaya

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Good News in History, May 13

This Day In History

By

Good News Network

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May 13, 2025

Mehmet I in the city of Karaman - credit, Nedim Ardoğa CC BY-SA 4.0 (Copy)

748 years ago today, the ruler of a large Turkish beylik in southern Anatolia, Mehmet I of Karaman, issued a decree which read: “From now on nobody in the palace, in the divan, council and on walks speak no language other than Turkish.” It was the first time a modern Turkish state of any kind elevated their own ancestral language above the positions of Arabic and Persian, the lingue franca of the Islamic world. READ a tad more about this historic event… (1277)

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World-First Genetic Index Helps Aussie Farmers Breed Heat Tolerant Cows to Maintain Their Welfare–and Milk Supply

By

Andy Corbley

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May 12, 2025

cattle-dairy-australia-pasture-Photo by Geraldine Lewa on Unsplash — Photo by Geraldine Lewa on Unsplash

Dairy cows in Australia – Photo by Geraldine Lewa on Unsplash

Australian dairies are breeding heat-tolerant cows and seeing big returns on hot days that are making the global industry stand up and take notice.

Ever feel like wolfing down a big meal when it’s 85°F out with 80% humidity? If you recoil at the thought, that’s one thing you have in common with a dairy cow.

Australian dairy farmers can lose between 25% and 40% of their herd’s milk yield during the summer months.

Against this financial heartbreak, farmers are putting their heads and herds together and diving into the science of genetics to help create the cattle of the future, using the Heat-Tolerance Australian Breeding Value or ABV for short.

The history of genetic exploitation in animal agriculture isn’t exactly a textbook on animal welfare: quite the opposite in fact. In this case, Dr. Thuy Nguyen, who pioneered the ABV, said it improves the animals’ lives because it allows them to tolerate hot and humid conditions more easily.

Key to Dr. Nguyen’s method, created over 4 years of data collection, was using the right measurement: not core body temperature, surprisingly, but rather a reduction in the animal’s social milieu on hot days.

Dairy cattle on Trevor Parrish’s Kangaroo Valley farm tend to become lethargic when it gets too stifling, eating less, or not at all. They crowd together for some reason, making it even hotter to their senses. Even if they do this under shade, they proceed to pee and defecate in the same spot, over and over again, increasing humidity yet further.

Parrish was one of the first farmers in Australia’s dairy industry to use the ABV, and while the first breeding bull he examined had a value substantially under 100 (heat intolerant) another pair each had values far in excess of 100—showing him which ones to breed with.

FARMING NEWS: Sunshine Coast Recycles Wastewater to Irrigate Farms–Instead of Dumping into a River

Developed in 2017, ABC News Australia reports that the ABV has received substantial industry use and financial support, expanding its footprint to include multiple Australian states, and even receiving acclaim internationally.

The acclaim arises from Dr. Nguyen and Parrish being the first among their professions in the world to a heat-tolerance marker for commercial breeding strategies, and now the US, Italy, and Spain are all investigating similar strategies.

MORE AUSTRALIAN ADVANCES: Experts Demonstrate How Solar Farms Can Become Hubs for ‘Biodiversity Enhancement’ at Every Level

“The US tested our ABV and found that it works in their conditions so it’s great to see it make waves globally,” Dr. Nguyen told a special report series called Land Line from ABC

“To me it made a lot of sense to have a look into it and try and use bulls that were [more] heat tolerant so it would help the next generation moving forward,” Parrish told the same program. “I would totally encourage other farmers to use [the ABV]. It’s not getting any cooler.”

WATCH the special report below…

SHARE This Great Story Of Happier Cows And Bigger Bottom Lines With Your Friends…

Antarctica Gained 200 Billion Tons of Ice During Recent Two-Year Period, Surprising Scientists

By

Andy Corbley

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May 12, 2025

Antarctica was in the news this week in a surprising way: it was gaining ice, rather than losing it.

While Antarctic ice sheet loss has averaged around 147 gigatons per year for the period between 2010 and 2020, a remarkable reversal occurred at the opening of this decade.

Writing in China Earth Sciences, researchers at Tongji University, led by Dr. Wei Wang and Professor Yunzhong Shen, reported that East Antarctica’s Wilkes Land and Queen Mary Land region recorded 108 gigatons of average ice sheet mass gain per year from 2021 to 2023.

1 gigaton is equivalent to 1 billion tons, and 108 gigatons is the equivalent weight of 1.5 million of America’s flagship aircraft carriers, to use a silly bit of context to aid the reader in their imaginings.

The growth period included several years in which various parts of the globe saw some of highest temperatures on record.

Using data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO (GRACE Follow-On) missions, which take measurements of the changes in the Earth’s magnetic field that reflect large amounts of ice gain or loss, the team found that four glacier basins, called Totten, Moscow University, Denman, and Vincennes had gained, not lost, a significant enough quantity of ice to influence a reduction in the rate of sea-level rise.

Driven by unusually-high precipitation levels, the amount is predicted to offset 0.3 millimeters of sea level rise per year—or roughly one quarter of the total rise seen during the twenty-teens.

This graph shows the shift in ice mass between 2021 and 2023 – credit Science China Press

Given that we’re in 2025, the scientists admit they don’t know if the trend in re-freezing continued or reversed. Given that the amount of precipitation was unusual, the scientists caution against assuming the trend will simply continue.

EARTH IN RUDE HEALTH: Century of Tree Planting Stalls the Warming Effects in the Eastern United States, Says Study

Data from the research period extended into 2024 and showed mass loss. However, almost all reductions were proceeded by gains, and all gains by reductions, based on the influence of the seasons.

Trend lines had the ice sheet increasing in size by the end of the final downturn without recording the subsequent upturn, which, if it were smaller than the previous year, would indicate the trend was already reversing.

CLIMATE CHANGE OVERESTIMATED: Climate Models Need an Upgrade: Plants Absorb 31% More Carbon Than Previously Thought

Melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is the single largest contributor to sea level rise along with the Greenland Ice Sheet. Together they hold most of the world’s fresh water.

Advocates for action to prevent the worst effects of climate change often portray the situation as being imminent, with little if any time left to act. The southern continent has offered a surprise that, literally speaking, the worst effects of climate change actually can be delayed and reversed.

SHARE This Unexpected And Uplifting Climate Story With Your Friends…

European Orchard Bee is Now a Valuable Pollinator in UK–Since the Weather Got Warmer

By

Andy Corbley

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May 12, 2025

Pair of European orchard bees- Osmia cornuta-GNU Free license — Pair of European orchard bees (Osmia cornuta) GNU Free license

If you happen to be on a ramble in southern Britain next year, you may see a solitary orangish bee flitting between rising flowers as early as late February.

Such days used to be too cold for Osmia cornuta, known as the European orchard bee, a regular pollinator in orchards on the mainland. However, rising global temperatures have allowed this powerhouse pollinator to find the English meadows fit for purpose.

O. cornuta will emerge in early to mid-March and begin feeding on the nectar of the earliest flowering plants like scilla, a genus of bulb-forming perennial flowers, often called squills and known for their early spring blooming of star-shaped blue, purple, white, or pink blossoms.

Though not a honeybee, it is utilized as a commercial pollinator, and deployed in almond, cherry, and apple orchards. A solitary species, the orchard bee lays a single egg in a nest dug into rotting wood. Inside, it will stash pollen for the baby bee to eat, and then seal up the hole to protect it.

If wood isn’t available, it will happily use masonry or house walls, cracked window frames, drainage pipes, and other nooks and crannies in anthropogenic locales.

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Though some might interpret its arrival in Great Britain as a negative because of the warming climate, a warming climate is also blamed for reducing pollinator species, so presumably the arrival of native European pollinator will help keep England’s meadows and verges the flowerful sights they are boasted to be.

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Renowned Salk Institute Studies Native Plants for Drug Discoveries in Weight Loss, Allergies, Asthma, and Headaches

By

Andy Corbley

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May 12, 2025

(left) Artemisia annua - credit, Kristian Peters, CC 3.0. BY(right) Ephedra viridis - credit, Dcrjsr CC BY 3.0.

Scientists in San Diego are working alongside Native Americans to plumb the genetic depths of medicinal plants in the name of potentially commercializing them as medicines.

Researchers from the renowned Salk Institute for Biological Studies work extensively at the Medicinal Plants Nursery in the San Diego Botanic Garden, growing and studying native California plants traditionally used to treat any malady under the Sun.

Those who know something of American medical history will know that Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine for Polio. He leant his name and reputation to an institute, which today carries on the work of developing cutting edge medicines and making breakthrough discoveries in the field of aging and plant biology.

However, in this case, the sophisticated Salk laboratories are being trained on rudimentary pharmaceutical development strategies, namely those to do with medicinal herbs.

“We have co-evolved with all of these medicinal plants,” said Salk Institute biologist Dr. Todd Michael. “I mean, they make these things probably to protect themselves, but also maybe because they make their mammal counterparts happy.”

Some specimens which Dr. Michael and his colleague Dr. Ben Neiman are focusing on include ephedra, which has a history of being used to treat syphilis, weight loss, allergies, asthma, and headaches; artemisia, used to treat malaria; and yerba santa, which Salk biologists are investigating for its potential foundation in a neurological drug for Alzheimer’s disease.

In the case of the latter two, Native Americans have used them traditionally as medicine, and they are collaborating with Salk in studying them for the depth of their medicinal properties.

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KFMB, CBS 8 San Diego reports that the work done by Salk is attracting national attention, with nurseries and institutes around the country sending cuttings, seeds, and plants to further their efforts.

Dr. Neiman says that the goal of translating the work into clinical trials and commercial pharmaceutical products is a “circular ecosystem” in economic terms, since the more drugs that can be developed, the more that tribal nations in and around San Diego County, and the natural landscape where these plants thrive, can be rewarded and protected.

WATCH the story below from the Salk Institute…

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